Following an extended production pause of the all-electric Lightning pickup, Ford has signaled its intention to boost production through the rest of 2023 – especially when it comes to its most in-demand models. While it’s undoubtedly wise for Blue Oval to ensure it can build enough vehicles to satisfy demand, the automaker is also trying to turn around any perceptions that it might be falling behind with EVs. Meanwhile, Ford is providing itself with an opportunity to preemptively dunk on General Motors after news broke that the rival automaker would walk back full-size pickup production to “ maintain optimal inventory levels.”

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced an order for over 9,000 all-electric vans from the Ford Motor Company – presumably to help settle some of the drama surrounding the selected replacement for the venerable Grumman LLV.

We know the upcoming Ford Mustang will offer a hi-po Dark Horse trim, and that trim will be available with carbon-fiber wheels. They won't be cheap.

Question is -- if you can afford the Dark Horse, would you pay more for these wheels?

Blue Oval bean counters have saddled the new-for-’24 Mustang with pricing details. Good news for pony car fans – the numbers are actually realistic.

I or another staffer has probably asked this QOTD before, and it will probably come up again, but hands-free driving is fresh in my mind.

The number of U.S. vehicle owners who are more than 59 days behind in their auto loan payments was 26.7 percent higher at the end of 2022 than they were at the end of 2021. This is due to a myriad of factors. Car payments have gotten larger, loan terms have increased, inflation has devalued the currency, and subprime borrowers are finding themselves on the wrong end of a widening wealth gap. 

While automotive repossessions declined during the pandemic, mainly due to lenders offering amnesty periods, they’ve likewise spiked through the end of 2022. This trend is assumed to continue, setting up a lot of business for repo men. However, Ford Motor Co. has patented a system that would effectively make vehicles unresponsive to drivers that have missed a few payments. Meanwhile, automobiles boasting the latest advanced driving technologies could allegedly repossess themselves. 

Continuing the saga of hiccups with what is arguably Ford’s most important product in decades, Blue Oval suits are pulling the trigger on prolonging production downtime for one extra week in the wake of a battery fire earlier this year.

Last year, Ford announced that it would split its business operations to separately focus on EV development and internal combustion production. Ford Model e is the automaker’s electric arm, and it’s made progress in Europe through partnerships with brands like Volkswagen. The VW MEB platform will be the basis for Ford’s latest EV, though all we’ve seen so far is a quick tease from the company’s European General Manager on Twitter.

Alert readers may recall a series of hiccups that have befallen the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning so far this year, including a battery fire in a truck that was parked in a holding pen near company facilities. Ford is obviously working feverishly to fix any problems. One roadblock on the road to repair might involve words this author rarely gets to type: Industrial espionage.

And they’re not related to the fire which we reported last week. This quality issue, reported by CNBC and other outlets within the last 24 hours, is related to “performance degradation”. In fact, about 100 owners were apparently asked a week before the fire to have their vehicles serviced for a separate issue.

The late-model Ford Mustang GT350 is one of the most fun performance versions of the venerable pony car, at least in my opinion. This one is for sale for a quite steep $55,000 -- though that pricing isn't that far off what the car was when it was new.

Ford has struggled to keep pace with demand for its electric F-150 Lightning, and now it appears the automaker is stopping production. Motor Authority reported that Ford is halting F-150 Lightning production and has issued an in-transit stop-ship order for the truck due to a potential battery issue.

Ford Motor Co. reportedly has plans to cut 3,800 administrative and product development positions in Europe over the next three years – representing a little more than 10 percent of its regional workforce. Germany and the United Kingdom are presumed to be the zones taking the biggest hits, with the automaker suggesting that it needs to streamline the workforce as part of its transition toward all-electric vehicles.

Today's QOTD is pretty self-explanatory. What vehicle that debuted here in Chicago caused you to sit up and take notice?

We're going classic today with this 1969 Ford Fairlane.

Set to saddle up atop the Mustang line when it appears in dealers this summer – well, until other variants inevitably appear, perhaps denoted by a name we won’t mention but starts with ‘S’ and ends in ‘helby’ – the Dark Horse will apparently also feature a raft of details not found on other trims.

And that paint? It’s actually Blue Ember – but we’re calling it Modern Mystichrome.

The Ford F-150 Lightning has been on sale for a while now, but it’s still nearly impossible to walk into a dealer and buy one without ordering and waiting a considerable amount of time. Despite rushing to meet demand, Ford’s still busy dreaming up new Lightning variants, including the performance concept it recently teased. 

It is a breath of fresh air to have someone like Jim Farley at the helm of an automaker. The man brings a bracing level of candor to a world generally filled with sanitized PR statements and corporate double-speak. In a candid call with investors, the CEO lamented about how Ford has been “number one in recalls” and the need “to improve product quality”.

Ford Motor Company has a decades-long relationship with Formula 1 that includes a record for being the third-winningest engine manufacturer in the sport’s long and storied history. Given its success, it’s not surprising to see the announcement that Ford is returning to Formula 1 as an engine manufacturer in 2026.

Major automakers deal with recalls all the time. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) monitors complaints on safety and other issues and works with automakers to start the recall process if a defect is found. Ford has had plenty of recalls to deal with in the last few years, including one related to the Mustang Mach-E’s glass roof detaching. The automaker may be looking at another glass-related recall if the results of a recent NHTSA investigation reveal a safety problem.

Trying this again, after gremlins ate the first post. We're all about that van life around these parts, and we're intrigued by this $50K 2019 Ford Transit Connect.

You knew this was going to happen, right? After the crew at Tesla significantly cut its prices, talking heads began wondering how long it would take for others to follow suit. Answer: Not long.

Today's UCOTD is a project car. It's a 1988 Ford Thunderbird that the seller is asking just $1,000 for.

The Ford Motor Company is recalling a sizable number of late-model SUVs over faulty rear-view camera systems that may not display what’s behind the vehicle. While rear-facing automotive camera systems are already susceptible to being obscured by roadway grime and cannot offer the same field of view as the driver turning their head, they’re often helpful in seeing behind vehicles without much reward visibility and have been federally mandated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) since 2018.

Ford has sent a bulletin to dealers telling them to offer customers who ordered a 2023 Bronco a $2,500 discount if they were willing to switch to another model. The reason has everything to do with the automaker’s inability to meet demand.

Ford is reportedly preparing to lay off a minimum of 1,000 German employees as it prepares to manufacture two battery-electric models developed under Volkswagen’s MEB platform. The partnership is old news, as is Ford wanting to pivot toward all-electric vehicles. However, everyone seems surprised that the decision would be accompanied by job cuts – despite countless reports having predicted that the global push toward EVs would mean far-fewer automotive jobs in the years to come.

In 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into 2011-2017 model year Ford Explorers after thousands of instances of police departments reporting an intrusion of exhaust gasses into the cabin. In some cases, the issue was so bad that officers alleged that they had been incapacitated while behind the wheel. However, the agency has finally wrapped up its probe, deciding that the manufacturer wasn’t at fault.

So then, what exactly did happen?

Normally, prototypes of future vehicles being tested are draped in camouflage. Not the 2024 Ford Ranger that spy shooters caught -- it was buck naked.

General Motors and Ford Motor Company have joined forces with Google – and a collection of businesses focused on solar power – to advance “virtual power plants” (VPPs). If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it basically entails leveraging distributed energy networks to create a more flexible and efficient power grid. Though the entire concept hinges on networking countless devices together via collective energy rationing whenever demand spikes.

Take a gander at Robert Farago's 2004 Ford GT review over your morning coffee. If you're anything like me, you will be jealous.

This is the second 1960s Ford Thunderbird we're featuring.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A line of pickup trucks from Dearborn is the best-selling vehicle in America. There’s a very good chance you have indeed heard this before; after all, it’s been happening for 41 years. 

This 1970 Ford Bronco restomod still needs exterior work, but the seller claims that it runs and drives well.

It had better, for $45,000.

Recalls are a fact of life for automakers and car owners, but some brands tend to rack up more than others. The NHTSA released a useful tool that enables drilling down on recalls from across the industry. In 2022, Ford Motor Company took the cake, with 67 recalls potentially impacting millions of vehicles.

Ford’s Maverick small truck has been highly reviewed, including by yours truly, so when two (one of each powertrain) arrived at my door within weeks of each other earlier this year, I was curious if my original take would hold up.

Hold up indeed it did, and I came away even more impressed with the truck – though I’d still lean towards the gas engine over the hybrid in most cases. If fuel economy or a few other factors matter more to you, then go for the hybrid. Otherwise, take the gas. But we’ll get to that.

One note: I’d normally do a separate review of each model, but aside from the powertrain differences, the two trucks weren’t significantly different. Yes, one was the nicer Lariat trim, so that changes the feature mix and interior materials a bit – but otherwise the two versions are similar enough in terms of user experience that I’d just be re-writing my own copy for 80 percent of the text if I did separate reviews.

We don't know why these workers at a Ford plant -- it says KTP, so we assume it's Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville -- are fighting, but we can't stop watching.

Ford has had an incredibly busy past few years. The automaker has announced a new Mustang variant and released its first electric pickup truck in the F-150 Lightning. That type of execution takes coordination and planning, and any slipups can lead to significant quality control issues, and Ford CEO Jim Farley has his finger directly on the pulse of the problem.

Floating around one of our corporate forums is this 1966 Ford Galaxie that got plucked off eBay.

As the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. and very nearly a brand (if not an entire economy) unto itself, major news about the Ford F-series pickup is almost always going to be the most significant automotive news of a given week – but, while there is huge F-150 news this week, the Blue Oval brand is going to have to take a back seat to this shocker: For the first time in well over a decade, the cost of making an EV battery has gone UP.

Prices of everything are going up these days – food, gasoline, our Managing Ed’s subscription to Utne Reader – and vehicles are not immune. We’re not just talking about the haywire used car market or greedy dealer markups, either; Ford has seen fit to hike its asking price for the dandy F-150 Lightning. Again.

When Ford unveiled the next-generation Mustang at the Detroit Auto Show in September, it was a bit mum on exact horsepower.

Now, we know what the numbers are.

With F1’s growing popularity on this side of the pond – thanks to the streaming specials and no fewer than three races in America next year – combined with a potential opening at one of the sport’s best teams, rumblings are emerging that Dearborn could once again immerse itself in the crucible of world motorsport.

Hoovie's Garage, aka Tyler Hoover, is a popular YouTube influencer, and he's claiming he's "done" with his Ford F-150 Lightning, which he owns with a friend, because the range in the winter isn't good enough.

Ford announced the long-awaited F-150 Lightning electric pickup and immediately had a “line around the block,” so to speak, with people jumping at the chance to own one. Demand has grown to the point that Ford’s looking to add a third shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, assembly plant cope. 

We're going way back in time today -- all the way back to the Sixties. There's some in or near Poughkeepsie, New York, selling a classic 1963 Ford Thunderbird -- and the seller claims the car is in "show" condition.

The new Ford Bronco may be one of the most hotly anticipated vehicle releases in decades. The Blue Oval still has a list of orders to fulfill for the SUV almost two years after its release, but analysts are already looking ahead to the Bronco’s second generation. 

Dearborn is having one final fling with what Ford is calling the “last-and-final” of the third-gen Ford GT builds. Set to be called the GT Mk IV – in honor of its Le Mans effort in 1967 – this track-only weapon will have a trick EcoBoost mill pushing 800 horsepower and a completely different wheelbase measurement compared to a standard GT.

In other words, this is a lot more than a cynical paint-n-wallpaper package.

The transition to EVs is a big deal, not just for automakers but for their dealers. Training, product marketing, and service are all enormous obstacles for dealers to overcome to sell and support electric vehicles effectively. General Motors offered to buy out Buick dealers that weren’t willing to put in the time and, more importantly, money. Ford laid out similar requirements to its dealers, asking for a financial investment of more than $1 million in some cases, and CEO Jim Farley recently touted the program’s success.

Connecticut legislators from both sides of the political fence appear to be less than thrilled with Ford about the deadline it’s imposing on dealerships vying to sell all-electric vehicles. Blue Oval wants retailers to make sizable investments to install on-site charging stations and retrain their staff on how to service EVs. For some stores, this means doling out over one-million dollars just to have the privilege of selling the latest models coming from the Ford Motor Company.

We’ve all had the experience of plugging our phone in and having it display an error message with some lame excuse about why it can’t charge. Many of us have likely had a similar experience with an electric vehicle. However, the stakes are quite a bit higher when we’re talking about the electricity needed to charge an EV. A Ford F-150 Lightning owner discovered how serious charging can be when a recent trip to an Electrify America charging station went wrong. 

Just like the scientists at Jurassic Park kept coming up with new and increasingly terrifying raptors (weaponized heat-seeking Indoraptor, anyone?), Ford seems content to infuse Raptor DNA into most of the trucks it sells – even the mighty Super Duty, according to a fan forum.

Today is one of those days in which I pose a QOTD based on an earlier news story -- as if you all aren't already arguing in the comments.

Ford CEO Jim Farley warned last week of "storm clouds" for auto workers as the eventual transition to electric vehicles will require fewer workers -- 40 percent fewer, according to Farley.

Ford is spending more time and money than many other automakers to transform itself into an electric automaker. But while The Blue Oval has received more than a few high-fives for its progress, not everyone is stoked about its approach to reaching its goals.

The "baby Bronco" Ford Bronco Sport doesn't get the pub that the Bronco does -- but based on what I observe driving around, it's been a sales winner for the Blue Oval. And while most are probably never taken off-road, Ford is offering more choice for those who want to take their Bronco Sports to the proverbial badlands.

We've covered two stories today in which the dealership model comes into play.

Ford's plan to divide its dealers by type of combustion system -- Ford Blue for internal-combustion vehicles, Ford Pro for commercial, and Ford Model E for battery-electric vehicles -- has hit a snag.

Ford Performance has confirmed that the Raptor won’t be electrified, with its chief engineer explaining the reasons why in the most direct manner possible. The resulting automobile would be less fun to drive and too heavy to take onto certain terrains. Deep sand would be particularly objectionable, as hulking vehicles that aren’t using tank treads have a tendency to sink into loose surfaces.

This one’s sure to set the comments section ablaze. We’re going to tell you the right way to spec a new Bronco – and you’re probably not going to like it.

First, let’s start with the smallest engine available *ducks to avoid busted u-joints and fake beadlock wheels hurled in our general direction*